Jasper is changing me into a health-conscious environmentalist. 

I haven’t moved into a mud hut yet, but I’m sure it makes my Mom a little nervous each time I call home with an announcement about something else I’ve cut out of out my diet or the newest study I’ve read about the evils of cell phones/plastic wrap/pharmaceuticals.

It could be that the increased proximity to trees and elk is putting me in closer touch with nature, but I suspect the reason for it is that health-related issues are higher up on the radar for Jasperites.

And so I get talking, and thinking, and looking at things differently.

Recently, a  concerned Jasperite sent me an email containing the following information:

About Those Sticker Labels:

How do you know what you’re buying in the produce department? According to www.naturalnews.com, those stickers that come on fruit and vegetables have four or five numbers that can tell you a great deal about the produce you’re buying. For instance:

Produce is divided into three classes: conventional, organic, and genetically modified. 

All four-digit coded produce is conventionally raised, which means pesticides and petroleum-based fertilizers were used. 

Five digit codes are simply the four digits with a single number added to the front: 8 or 9. If the first of five numbers is 9, then it has been grown to the specifications of the National Organic Standards Board.

If the first of five numbers is 8, the produce is genetically modified. It means that it has been grown conventionally with pesticides in depleted soil, from frankenseeds. 

So now I check the food I buy, and maybe you will too. The best part is there are tonnes of websites out there with tonnes of articles and tips like this for health-minded and curious consumers. 

Though I was aware of many product-related issues such as how unhealthy aspartame is and what frightening chemicals exist in the food we buy before I came to Jasper, something about being here has made me really concerned.

One reason I believe these issues are overlooked in larger city centres is because the idea reigns that the fastest, cheapest option is the best. 

People are busy in Jasper. But no one sits in traffic, shouts their meal order through a speaker at a drive-thru or chases public transit buses up the street. Perhaps the laid-back, in-touch-with-nature attitude gives residents cause to stop and read ingredient lists and not cut corners in an attempt to save time. 

I never expected I would take away such a sound lesson from this town, and certainly not so soon. If only the rest of the country could feel the effects of living here in Jasper.